Petra Ecclestone’s former mansion had a $37.5 million asking-price cut before ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt bought The Spelling Manor in 2025. What drove the cuts?

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy Schmidt, bought the sprawling estate for $110 million in 2025. That was $27.5 million below its final asking price of $137.5 million—a 20% discount—and roughly $10 million less than the price it fetched when Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone sold it in 2019.

The longer comparison is even more striking. Ecclestone had listed the property for $175 million in 2018. Seven years later, the Schmidts paid $65 million less than that figure. These were separate owners and sales cycles, however, rather than one uninterrupted listing.

The Real Deal reported in August 2025 that Spelling Manor had previously traded for nearly $120 million in 2019 before returning to the market in 2022 for $165 million. It went on and off the market, with its asking price eventually falling to $137.5 million before the sale.


The French château-style megamansion has 123 rooms including 14 bedrooms and 27 bathrooms and borders the Los Angeles Country Club. Often referred to simply as The Manor, the home covers more than 56,500 square feet on 4.7 acres. Its attractions include a beauty salon, bowling alley, rose gardens and screening room.

Built for television producer Aaron Spelling around 1990, the estate later became home to Ecclestone, daughter of Formula One racing magnate Bernie Ecclestone. She bought it for $85 million in 2011 and reportedly spent another $20 million on upgrades.

The renovation was an undertaking of its own. Ecclestone brought in roughly 500 workers to modify the property. By 2018, she was seeking $175 million for the home, before selling it the following year for nearly $120 million.

At approximately 56,500 square feet, The Manor is slightly larger than the White House or the Taj Mahal. Maintaining a home of that size takes considerably a lot more. This sale does show the gap between an ambitious asking price and the amount a buyer ultimately agrees to pay - even for a home with its own bowling alley.

Sam Palmer, who lived there with Ecclestone, her then-fiancée, spoke to The Wall Street Journal in 2020 about the expense and difficulty of running the estate. According to his account, it required 35 to 50 full-time staff members, including gardeners, security personnel, butlers and house managers.